I'm Not the Heroine

Chapter 44

Our next destination was a mining town located in the northwest region of the Empire. The distance from the city we had brought Nia from was quite far, so we spent most of our time on the road.@@@@

Aria, Serlyn, and Lapiria were either occupied with their own tasks or occasionally tried to appeal to the Hero. Every time, the Hero would handle their attempts with some fluster, maintaining good relationships with all of them. Despite all this, he never neglected his training or the subjugation of monsters, leaving me with the impression that he was incredibly diligent.

So what were Nia and I up to during this time?

"Master, I'm counting on you again today!" Nia called out with her usual enthusiasm.

We were focused on mana control and magic training. Nia needed to learn to control her magic on her own if she was to be a useful member of the party. So, that had become my priority in teaching her.

As a result, my time for research and development had been significantly reduced.

"So, what's the first step to controlling your mana?" I asked.

"Close my eyes and regulate my breathing," Nia responded confidently.

"Exactly. And as I’ve told you repeatedly, you already have plenty of lunar mana within you. You need to stop worrying about not being able to draw it out."

"Understood!"

With that, Nia sat down on the ground and closed her eyes, concentrating hard.

"Don't worry about the sparks flying. Just focus on drawing out as much power as you can," I instructed.

"Urgh...!"

After a while, small sparks started to flicker around her. The lunar mana surrounding her began to shift into the form she desired.

Since it would take some time for proper flames to form, I took the opportunity to look around.

Prrp... Prrrp!

In the distance, I saw Nightlux speaking to Nia’s horse. The poor horse looked tense, likely due to some kind of hierarchy being established between them.

‘Nightlux, you’re just like me,’ I thought with amusement.

While I was teaching Nia, it wasn’t all that different from establishing order. In both cases, we were imparting some kind of knowledge.

"Master, I did it!"

Despite having done this several times over the past few days, Nia was as thrilled as ever. It seemed just having me teach her was enough to make her so excited.

‘...She’s sweet,’ I thought.

If Nia had been more aggressive or silent, teaching her would have been a lot more frustrating. But because she was such a friendly and open person, she got along well with the other heroines too. This positive attitude reflected in her magic lessons, making her a joy to teach.

‘...I wonder how I was back then.’

I thought back to my days of learning magic from my own master.

I didn’t recall being as lively as Nia, but in the end, I was still happy to see my student succeeding.

‘A master’s greatest joy is seeing their disciple achieve great things.’

‘...It’d be nice if the last heroine was like this too.’

But that wasn’t possible.

The last heroine of the Hero’s party didn’t join with such ease. She would make her debut as an assassin sent to kill the Hero.

Aswell, the Hero, was beloved by women all over the world. From maidens in remote villages to princesses and noble ladies.

But not all of them ended up with the Hero.

In the original story, only the women who were part of the Hero’s party had romantic connections with him. The last member of that party was the assassin.

‘Her exact title, assassin or thief, was a bit unclear until the end.’

If we were to categorize her as part of a typical adventurer party, she’d probably be called a ranger or a rogue. But since her original role was an assassin, fans of the novel referred to her as the “Assassin Heroine.”

Honestly, I wasn’t eager to have her in the party. Her personality and racial traits made it difficult for her to get along with anyone but the Hero.

Still, I couldn’t ignore her importance.

‘How else would we find the path to the Demon Realm without her?’

To defeat the Demon King, the Hero’s party needed to travel to the Demon Realm. While there were other ways to summon the Demon King and his army to our world, the storyline that went that route was unpopular and poorly received. So, the Hero’s party had to venture into the Demon Realm, and only the assassin heroine could lead the way.

“Hm...”

“What’s wrong, Master?” Nia asked, breaking my train of thought.

“Uh, well, hehe...”

“Alright, Nia, let me explain.”

I led Nia over to a rock where the Hero was polishing his sword.

“Louis? Nia?”

“Watch carefully, Nia.”

I turned away from her and reached out to pat the Hero on the head.

“W-what? Why are you suddenly...?”

“Hold still for a moment, Hero. Now, Nia, what am I doing by patting the Hero’s head?”

“Uh... You’re using your hand?”

“Exactly. Now, watch this.”

I put on a white glove and patted the Hero’s head again.

“Now, what’s patting the Hero? Is it the glove or my hand?”

“Um... It’s your hand inside the glove, right?”

“Exactly. That’s why Meteor is earth magic.”

“Huh...?”

“Louis... What are you even talking about?”

“Here, let me give you another example.”

This time, I walked over to Nightlux, who was calmly munching on flowers. I gently swatted him.

Prrrp?

“Now, Nia, what hit Nightlux?”

“Your hand...”

“And now?”

Slap.

Prrprrp!!

“Your gloved hand...”

“Correct. Now think about it: when a Meteor spell hits an enemy, what actually impacts them? Is it the fire surrounding the meteor, or the meteor itself?”

“Um... the meteor?”

“Right. The meteor is my hand, and the flames around it are the glove.”

“...Ah.”

“Whether the glove is there or not, it’s still my hand doing the patting, just like how the meteor would still strike even without the fire.”

The meteor is the core of the spell. Without the meteor, the flames wouldn’t exist.

It’s like saying that a boxer’s glove doesn’t throw a punch—the boxer does. Or that a wheelchair doesn’t move by itself, but the person using it does.

That’s why Meteor is classified as earth magic.

“So... I can’t use it?”

“No, you can. You just have to do it in your own way.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Just hurl something big and on fire from the sky.”

“Wha—”

If you throw a massive boulder covered in flames from high above, that’s essentially the Meteor spell.

Nia looked slightly deflated, but I didn’t worry too much. It was important for her to understand her limits when it came to magic.

Besides, knowing her, she’d be happily humming and practicing magic again by tomorrow.

We continued Nia’s magic training for several more days until she was finally able to hold her own. Around that time, we arrived at the mining town.